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Saitama ramen shop manager busted for forcibly prostituting teen girls

Yuta Shimada
Yuta Shimada
KAWAGOE (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested the manager of a ramen shop, an employee and three others suspects for running a prostitution ring that included teenage girls, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Mar. 4).

Manager Yuta Shimada, 29, is accused of forcing women residing at the residence of 22-year-old shop employee Tosaki Iwabuchi, who is among the suspects, into meeting men at nearby love hotels for sexual encounters — a violation of the Anti-Prostitution Law.

The suspects recruited customers through posts made on deai-kei “encounter” matchmaking sites. Prices for each session ranged between 20,000 and 40,000 yen.

One 18-year-old girl provided sex to roughly 200 customers over a three-month period, according to public broadcaster NHK (Mar. 4). The girl, a runaway, was told by Shimada that she could reside in the home if she engaged in enjo kosai (or compensated dating).

All five suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.

The matter came to light while officers questioned a third-year middle school girl (15) who is alleged to have dumped her baby’s fetus inside a toilet in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward in June.

“Shimada forced me into prostitution,” police quoted the girl, who was arrested on charges of abandoning a corpse.